Tuesday, September 29, 2009

I work at Bronx Community College as an adjunct librarian. Even though I love this job, it is unfortunately part-time. Therefore, I am always on the prowl for full-time gigs; recently, I used a database (Academic Search Premier) to obtain an article on what the preferences of employers are in terms of receiving resumes and cover letters.

I often feel that I am sending my resume out into an administrative void, or that there are incompetent secretaries and jaded mailroom associates that don't want my poor resume to get into the right hands. But, I have never actually queried a database to see what research has been done to find the preferences of employers. The other day, though, I found an article that speaks to what these preference might be.

The article is titled, "Employer Preferences for Resumes and Cover Letters" and it was written by Nancy M. Schullery, Linda Ickes, and Stephen E. Schullery. The article can be found in the June 2009 issue of Business Communications Quarterly between pages 163-176. Not only is the article comprehensively informative, it delineates what those specific preferences are for the benefit of potential employees sending out resumes.

The data that informs this article was culled from "Company representatives at our career fairs" (Western and Eastern Michigan) and was prompted by the refusal of many company representatives to "accept a printed resume while speaking with students" and their preference for potential employees to proceed directly to the "company Web sites" to upload their resumes and cover letters (pg. 163). The introduction to this article is littered with dialogue about scannable resumes and the use of keywords. There is also a smattering of 90's data about employer preference to whet our appetites for what is coming next and show us where we've been.

For example, "A 1998 survey of Fortune 500 companies found that only 19.7% accepted resumes by email, whereas 98% accepted resumes fax" (pg. 165) But, honestly, when is the last time you sent a fax: 1998? I mean the change has happened over the course of 11 years and yet the standard nowadays is surely sending and receiving resumes by email. It's interesting to note however that before the fax there was only snail mail and before snail mail there were uh pigeons, I guess.

In terms of findings, the researchers found that "A large majority (71%) of employers prefer standard chronological resumes, with another 21% preferring them in text format. Five percent of the companies have no preference or want their own application" (pg. 170). It is interesting that even though the technology has created things like scannable resume readers, a lot of people find little use for them. In addition, "Email is the most preferred modality (46%), with 41% preferring the resume pasted into the body of the email. The second-most prefered mnodality is entry at the company's web site (38%), with 34% preferring the resume copied in it's entirety and 4% preferring entry in sections" (pg. 172).

Moreover, "The standard chronological style of resume is the 'the standard' irrespective of company size, location, or industry, or the job function of the hiring contact person" (pg. 174). And, "Electronic delivery of resumes appears largely to have replaced paper. Eighty-four percent prefer delivery either by email or by company Web site, and only 7% want paper" (pg. 174). However, because the motivation for the researchers involved knowing employer preferences so that they could teach their business classes what these preferences were, the researchers had some interesting caveats to add. First, "construction of a basic printable resume probably remains a wise investment of time" (pg. 174) Also, "a complete, organized, and well-phrased inventory of an applicant's skills and experiences would be convenient for multiple potential delivery venues, including submission by email as either attachment or text" (pg. 174).

This has implications for internet security because due to their hard work people are now more liable to open just any old attachment, regardless of its possible equine virus capabilities. In other words, since internet security has been ramped up and bettered, it has allowed for other technologies, like scannable resume readers to go the way of the dinosaur. Last, despite all this technology, the researchers who wrote this article suggest always having a paper copy that you could always press into the palm of a potential employer "in the event of a chance encounter" (pg. 147).

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

To begin with, research is a very abstract concept. When we say research, what we mean is investigation that moves through stages. Reading an article in the Post or Daily News or Wikipedia article is not research as you don't really do anything with the information given. For it to be research it has to have steps; once those steps are learned, you can replicate, or repeat, them every time you sit down to do research. Learn them well as they will serve you as you progress at BCC and hopefully transfer to a four year school and a master's program. Regardless of what you study and where you study it, you are going to have to know how to conduct research and then write research papers.

Before we start, I would like to place an idea in your head. The hard part about doing a research paper is that you have to be able to look at something through a telescope and a microscope simultaneously. I mean that, the work of research is being able to look at look at the same object with a telescope as with a microscope.

The first thing I tell students to do is find a topic you have always been curious about. This is the stage where you should consult encyclopedias, almanacs, dictionaries, and handbooks. During this first stage, you will have to ingest large amounts of information which means that you will have to read quite a bit. This is the most time consuming part of research, but it has to be done; during this time, you should be reading with your pen and using a pen and a higlighter; you must really pick out the more interesting parts of the information you read and stick to reference books.

From the information that you have read, you should be able to form questions, you should ask yourself what sticks out the most to you. In reality, you should try to move from what/who questions into how/why questions. For example, once you know what the Renaissance is and who brought to life, inevitably you must ask yourself, how "they" brought about the Renaissance?, and why was the Renaissance even started? In other words, you will know you are ready for step three once you have answered the what/who questions about any topic and you are moving in for further details about the how and the why. Remember, research is about being able to move between the telescope (what/who) and the microscope (how/why).

Before we move to step three I just want to ask you whether you would give your car to a mechanic that didn't know the name of that thingee that gives electricity to like the whole car. In other words, how important is vocabulary in the day to day life of an expert. Do you think experts at anything use the wrong vocabular, or do they know exactly what stuff is called. They know what an alternator is and how many amperes of electricity go through a car's batter. Using the right vocabulary will also help you to be a better researcher. Please pay attention to the words that you are using to look for articles and books and journals, because unless you are using the right words, or subject terms and descriptors, then it will appear as if nothing has been written about your topic.

The third step is look for and locate primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are objects created during the time under study or consideration. A memoir written in 1961 by a Dominican man or woman about the assassination of Trujillo is a primary source of contemporary Dominican history. The memoir of a Katrina survivor written during the devastation of New Orleans is a primary source of Hurricane KatrinaAccording to Princeton University Libraries, "Primary sources are diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, official records, creative works like plays, poetry, television programs, etc." One could make the argument that Scarface is a primary source of the illicit Miami cocaine industry of the early 80's.

Secondary sources respond to and talk about primary sources. So a book written by another author criticizing or explaining Ernest Hemingway's fiction is a secondary source. An editorial about how rude Kanye was to poor Taylor Swift would be a secondary source because it is commenting or explaining the video of Kanye dissing Taylor which is the primary source. A history textbook is a secondary source, as are textbooks, encyclopedias, and magazine articles.

Step four is make an argument.Step five is disagree or agree with what the experts you have found are saying.

Monday, September 14, 2009

The decorum is scant on the productionof fan videos. Digital satirists the lot of them,they run the clips through with the music of theirexertion, as if it were that person’s very own aerobic theme song, those scrappy notes that push peonspast finite reps & into the Warrior Dome Zone. Like, you and me, we’d probably pick the theme from Rocky, or that fancy piano puddle in the theme from Chariots of Fire. But these fans, they have the taste of deaf leaves. They honor the players by butchering the sustained intent of their volleys into highlight-reel petards? They honor the players by making them marionettesto White Horse or We are the Champions, or some Norweigan death metal band scorching churches?When did we start letting fans architect theme music ardor? But, who is left to pen guitar whines to accompany Verón’s sinister gallop mode? Who could headbutthe speakers into trilling a sound not unlike a witches’ mix-tape of Vikings crashing into moribund jetties?There is overkill information about Verón to consider.Verón’s known as little witch because his fatherwas one hell of a sorcerer; and, they both played forEstudiantes, on some circle-is-complete-shit.Verón’s not your man if you like flash, dang custard,showoffatron maneuvers or tantric arithmetic.He’s like that truck you drive, your father’s truck,whenever you visit them for winter. The hood is bald;the chassis rattles like an ingot pinata; the rear fender is rust confederated. But give that truck some gas andthe hood buckles bold releasing gibbous torque wake.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

My wife just started her sixth year as a high school Spanish teacher. When she first started teaching a teacher gave her this old book on how to teach Spanish. This book has become like a talisman for her. Recently, she showed me this book, and I am trying to convince the art editor to let us use this to make banners and the hull of issue #2. Well, Adolfo Barandiaran, what do you think of these images?

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Your father had to be a butcher to have given youOmar as a middle name. Omar, the butcher's kid, a striker of unpardonable efficiency, a Terminator cleaver made of volcano ore and Skytel metalurgy.And then his mane made women dedicate themselvesto follicle cults and galloping kerotene chambers.El Bati scored so many goals that they had to startdesignating the prettier ones Batigols. Came upwith Bielsa, locked horns with Passarrella, so youhave definitely come through the Argentine Mythology Combine. Tecnico Narcisas speaks marvels of your killer,saying that you don't pardon lives. You can watch theclips all day, the depots of clips, the terrabytes of bests of and the duty reels. It's just that Bati can lambaste the corner of that post with spitfire precision; and, that's from well outside the box, the ball meteoring past defensemen, whipping the toothpaste white netting.

This is Amanda Duran's zine, Oskar and Oskar's Autospielen Cafe. I advise you to click on the image because it's hand drawn by Mrs. Duran. Amanda is a high school Spanish teacher in NYC and a native of Los Angeles. Her favorite color is purple, and her favorite movie is Willy Wonka. Over the summer, Amanda was in Germany and was inspired to make this zine by Oskar Schmidt, the gorgeous little mann of Jurgen and Yvon Schmidt. The Schmidt's live in Ravensburg, Germany and like to drive a Volvo station wagon in excess of 200 kilometers per hour on the Autobahn.

Monday, September 7, 2009

The reason your name doesn't gong more eternalin the Adirondacks and Denali of 90 minutes playis because you wore the colors that suitedyou when you needed them to matter and the fansdon't have that option. If their hearts bleed blueand gold then they had you on lock when you werebusy peeling out in the Bombonera, but you werealso very prodigious playing for the Plate? Shit,you've even played for the Rangers in Glasgow andthe rabid sheiks that run the Qatar Sports Club.In other words, it is as if you've been Maradonized.As if Maradona had come down from on high and clippedthose little wingtips of prolonged celebrity quotient.I mean, Caniggia, had it in spades. It being a dollopof the demi-god, a reverence reserved for the prettiestAryans, those model fucks with luxurious hair bounties.My man could glide with quickness, I think some Peronistsprobably timed him silly in the barn of some futbol cluband the news spread like unmitigated flu purloin. Maybe hecould sprint 100 meters in under 11 seconds, but how much fastercould he go if the sins of Father Maradona were not someunforeseen dumbbell, some aggregate riposte on the albatross.Caniggia was possibly the last albatross in the landwhere the toilets flush backwards. An ass, no doubt, but at the same time, he is a manner of the celeste and whitethat typifies the Argentine national team. But back to the bird metaphors, let's just say that Caniggia was largelybelieved to be the fastest white soccer player playing inthe world and to watch the clips you would think thatthere is no way a man's stride could cut so much distancecould mow down the green continent spread out before him.Caniggia could run fast, like wow, because he was a stringyand tall god-like motherfucker that could run like an animal.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

After Maradona calls you a monster, what do you do?Do you: a.) careen feetfirst into the feet of an Inter striker?b.) sideswipe opponents like a squirrel sumo? c.) chest bumpthe referee and push off your coach who has to eyefuck youso that you shut your mudhole and cool your fool. So you lostsome time at West Ham and blamed London on the your soul cirrhosis.At least you got to play with Tevez which must have made the teamlike a River Plate two-seater. But now, now, you have come intoit thick at Liverpool. The ghost of your own Nike botin follows youaround the training grounds; the gravy train was delayed for a bitbit it is coming ladden with sports drink endorsements and powergels, aerobic rocket powders. Your moon is up, son, and rememberthat endorsement from Maradona. Him calling you a monster is likethe ball crying that the foot is a brutal counterpart.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Young-ass, no-neck-having, endorsed out the wazooundecipherable governor. Captain England in the gunrange, mumbler, shy statistician, grotesque ducatsin trade ploys and blackmail jousting in the Sunfor libel tournaments when all my man wantsis to field a volley from midfield, absorb it in someturgidly benign way with swollen gravity and Howitzeron the poor sap they've sentenced to deflect his meteors.

My man, Rooney, marquees the poise of a physicist calibrating the Goalie Death Ray. His little black eyes(almost too small for his cranium) like mediocre poppieswith aftertaste wallop. It's like you can almost spy the deliberate assessment, the size-up this adolescent-platedstreet arab has on his mind. And then he is known for chippingit over goalies' heads when they venture out too far, forgetthemselves in relation to the skirmish in play. And then he isknown for bringing the full hip wrath, the torque shoulder canonthe barrel-down carnivore, the lambasted targets, the pity of theoxygen tank, the lameness of the metatarsals.

"Compound Memorandum" by James Foley, Illustrated by Chaz Folgar

My Blogged Rating

Teacher in Bronx Looses Shit, Eats Bathroom Pass

Would You Like A Copy of Yago Cura's "Rubberroom?"

If you would like a copy of Yago Cura's Rubberroom, you can purchase one online through the print-on-demand platform at MagCloud. Please click here to access a free digital copy for your e-readers.

The Rubberroom is a colletion of poetry about the reassigment centers that NYC's Department of Education uses to administratively punish teachers that have been arrested or accused of committing a crime.

Yago spent two weeks there in 2004 but was helped along by various people who saw that a wrong was being committed. But, he was extremely lucky; supposedly, there are teachers who have been at these reassignment centers, or Rubberrooms, for years.

Yago's Rubberroom is a cycle of poems written like a play. The plot is driven by acts and scenes and there is one narrator that monologues his way to understanding the motives behind the actions that landed him in the Rubberroom.

Yago's Rubberroom has been passed around public high schools in the Bronx by first year teachers, administrators, and haggard veterans since 2005. In addition, Yago addressed the 2005 and 2006 class of NYC Teaching Fellows at Lehman College, and his story comprises the much larger story titled "Human Resources" that aired on This American Life in February of 2008.

Spicaresque

The title of this web blog is a neologism created by Yago S. Cura: a compound of the derogatory word for Latinos, "spic," and the Spanish literary tradition, "Picaresque," from which the modern novel descends.
Yago's poetry has appeared in Lungfull!, Borderlands, COMBO, LIT, U.S. Latino Review, PALABRA, Exquisite Corpse, Field, Slope, and The New Orleans Review. Yago's reviews have appeared in The St. Mark's Poetry Project Newsletter.
In 2008, Yago was one of many narrators of the "Human Resources" episode of National Public Radio's "This American Life" that highlighted the NYC/DOE's gulag for alleged-against teachers: the Rubberroom.
Yago's poetry manuscript, Spicaresque, was a finalist in the National Poetry Series and the Andres Montoya Poetry Prize.

Spicaresque Slide Show

Porque are you afraid de Spanglish?

"Nothing seems to inflame advocates of our nation's Anglo-Saxon traditions so much as this issue of language. Since a people's culture--it's music, literature, and customs--is invevitably expressed through its language, the growth of 'foreign' language use somehow implied the growth of foreign cultures. Since 1990, for instance, more than 32 million American spoke English as a second language, a phenomenal one-third increase over 1980, and for more than half of those 32 million, Spanish was the primary tongue"